View full sizeAttorney General-elect Kathleen Kane is greeted by Sen. Bob Casey and Gov. Tom Corbett upon arriving for her swearing-in ceremony last month. Soon Kane will open a review of one of Corbett's biggest cases. Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.comSEAN SIMMERS, PennLive

That’s about to end.

Kane is said to be ready to proceed with her long-promised review of the Pennsylvania-shaking Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse probe, and she may name the special deputy who will carry that job out as early as this week.

Kane’s press secretary, Ellen Mellody offered no clues as to who that deputy will be Friday, other than to say it will be someone “with the best experience and objectivity to lead the office’s internal investigation into how the Sandusky child abuse investigation was handled.”

The deputy, Mellody said, oversee the probe and report directly to Kane.

The appointment signals the start of work on one of Kane’s central campaign promises to voters last year: Finding out why the investigation into the former Penn State defensive coordinator took more than two-and-a-half years to complete.

Kane, a former Lackawanna County assistant district attorney, rode that pledge to the first-ever victory by a Democrat since the attorney general's office became an elective office in 1980.

In some ways, it is a bit of a sideshow to the case itself.

Sandusky, the longtime defensive coordinator for Joe Paterno, was convicted in June of molesting 10 boys over a 14-year period and sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison. There has been no evidence that any new victims were preyed upon during the course of the state investigation.

The conviction itself has already withstood a first round of appeals, and even harsh critics of the probe’s timing make clear they are not defending Sandusky.

But in Pennsylvania, there may also be a need to do this, if only for cathartic reasons.

The scandal abruptly ended Paterno’s legendary career, unjustly in the eyes of many Paterno loyalists; and it ultimately set the revered Penn State football program up for NCAA punishments including a four-year ban on post-season play.

A poll conducted by Quinnipiac University last month showed 50 percent of respondents disapprove of Gov. Tom Corbett’s handling of the “Penn State situation over the past few years,” as compared to just 26 percent who approve.

That “handling,” of course, would include the start-up of the Sandusky investigation in 2009 under then-Attorney General Corbett, who was simultaneously in the early stages of preparing to run for governor in 2010.

Sandusky was charged in November 2011.

Some suggest that Corbett or his allies managed the delicate child sex investigation so that it would not break in the middle of the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, a suggestion that Kane exploited to great advantage in her own race last year.

The new inquiry, she has said, would look at, among other things: Whether enough agents and investigators were dedicated to the investigation at the start? Why Sandusky wasn’t arrested after the first credible case was built? Why Corbett’s staff took the case before a grand jury? Did campaign contributions from board members of The Second Mile, Sandusky’s youth charity, influence matters?

It is a highwire act for both main characters.

Corbett has been steadfast in his denials of playing politics with the probe, and several agents and investigators who worked the case have backed that up publicly and privately.

They’ve said that proving a continuous course of conduct against Sandusky was their best strategy for winning the case, and that using the grand jury was a sound strategic call that let them to build that case through a series of often reluctant victims.

Frank Fina, Corbett’s top deputy on the Sandusky case, has been hired to a new special investigations unit in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office. “This office has only heard great things about Frank, and we’re happy he is a part of our team,” said Tasha Jamerson, spokesman for District Attorney Seth Williams.

Corbett has said he will talk to Kane, as long as he believes the investigation is proceeding fairly.

Even so, “Nobody wants to have these types of questions hanging over them as they are about to put a campaign together,” noted Muhlenberg College political science professor Chris Borick, referring to Corbett’s expected run for a second term next year.

For Kane and her special deputy, meanwhile, there’s the need to strike a careful balance between exploring the open questions deeply enough to satisfy the skeptics that there’s been an independent review without being perceived as conducting a political witchhunt.

“She’s got the blessing of the voters on this,” Borick said, “but that blessing is not one that will last forever and it has limits.”

“Clearly this is a very delicate issue on the political side,” Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa. D-Allegheny, told the Times. “If she creates an atmosphere that... she has already reached a conclusion, that’s not good.”

Then there’s also the complication of simultaneously prosecuting other Sandusky-related cases against Penn State administrators accused of obstructing the original investigation, even as that original investigation is being reviewed.

Kane’s supporters and staffers say there are no pre-conceived notions about the outcome of the probe.

“The reality is there are legitimate questions that people all over the state have been asking for months, and they have a right to know the facts,” Mellody said.

Former Acting Attorney General Walter Cohen noted this week the special deputy, at the start, will likely be relying primarily on the cooperation and good will of the Sandusky investigators, many of whom have since retired or left the AG’s office during the transition.

Kane’s investigator would not have the power to compel testimony before the grand jury, for example, without seeking specific approval to start a case from the grand jury’s supervising judge, Cohen said.

If extreme wrongdoing is found, Kane has left herself the latitude to take that direction.

But that is a decision for another day.

Kane herself told The Times on Friday she will accept whatever conclusion the special prosecutor reaches. “I am not afraid of at the very end, after every stone has been turned, to tell everyone: ‘Nothing went wrong here,’” the newspaper quoted her as saying.

Related Stories

Featured Story

Get 'Today's Front Page' in your inbox

This newsletter is sent every morning at 6 a.m. and includes the morning's top stories, a full list of obituaries, links to comics and puzzles and the most recent news, sports and entertainment headlines.

optionalCheck here if you do not want to receive additional email offers and information.See our privacy policy

Thank you for signing up for 'Today's Front Page'

To view and subscribe to any of our other newsletters, please click here.